Subject: Assessment and Special Educational Needs
Assessment and Special Educational Needs
Dear Friend,
I wonder how you got on with assessing your children and students through observing what they do and say? I hope the ideas you found in my last email and the references I gave you were helpful and have added to your teaching skills in some way.
Today I want to look at the concept of children with Special Educational Needs. The attached article, I hope, gives you some food for thought about this. In the UK we have, for many years, identifed children who learn in a different way from most by saying they have special educational needs. However, it was because of brain research that Howard Gardner first came up withe the concept of multiple intelligences and this, I feel, brings a more positive attitude to difference. It is essential to be able to diagnose (thought observation, assessments and formal diagnostic tests) how a child learn, if each is to succeed and live a fulfilled life.
A book that was written by Thomas Armstrong PhD. and published in 2010 by Da Capo Life Long is a wonderful celebration of what those who are said to have special educational needs are able to do rather than what they can't do. It's title 'Neurodiversity: Discoverng the Extraordinary Gifts of Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Brian Difference' conveys that positve approach better than anything. I recommend it as essential reading for all teachers of whatever age group.
In my MI and Assessment booklet I have listed some of the special needs that often occure for children in schools. However, each needs to be studied individually as and when needed by teachers of children who demonstrate these differences. In my workshops I have one session which asks teachers each to research a different 'need' on the internet listing how it can be recognised and what provsion the teacher should make once it has been diagnosed. The booket they come up with when this research is all put together is a useful reference book for their school. You may like to do the same for your school.
Every child in your class will have something to offer.
I hope by my next e-mail you will have tried out some of these ideas in your own classrooms. We will think about children with special educational needs in a few days time and how to provide for them.
With kind regards,
Margaret
Margaret Warner M.A. Ed.
International Education Consultant
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 310578
E-mail: maweducation@discover-multiple-intelligences.com
Websites
Discover Multiple Intelligences
MI and Assessment Booklet
Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences
If you change your mind and wish to opt out of these articles and newsletters please e-mail maweducation@discover-multiple-intelligences.com and you will not be contacted again. But we hope you won't, as you may miss some useful information that you can use in your work.
If you have received this email in error, please delete it. This email has been checked for known viruses;h owever we cannot accept liability for any damage sustained as a result of a software virus.